Month: January 2022

Your personal finance questions – I was mugged so can I make a claim on my home insurance?

By Charlie Weston for Independent.ie

https://www.independent.ie/business/personal-finance/your-personal-finance-questions-i-was-mugged-so-can-i-make-a-claim-on-my-home-insurance-41241992.html

Q I was mugged recently and my wallet and my keys, which were in my handbag, were stolen. I have reported it to the Gardaí and cancelled my cards. Because I had my ID and proof of address in my bag, I also had to have all the locks replaced in my home for security purposes. My friend said I might be able to claim the cost of the lock repairs back. It cost me €500 in total.

A In short, it depends on which company you have insurance cover with, according to Billy Shannon of Aviva Insurance Ireland. Different insurance providers may have different levels of cover.

This is why it is important that you look through the policy benefits to ensure they suit your needs before choosing your insurer, or at the very least the minute you have taken out a policy, so that if you want to cancel, you can do so within the 14-day cooling off period, he said.

Mr Shannon added that he would be hopeful whichever insurer you are currently with would offer you some money towards the cost.

At Aviva, if the keys to your home are stolen in a personal assault or break-in, you will be paid up to €400 to cover the cost of replacing outside door locks, locks on domestic safes or alarm keys, he said.

Modern Morals: I broke off my engagement after my fiancé cheated on me. Do I have to return the ring?

By Katie Byrne for Independent.ie

https://www.independent.ie/opinion/comment/modern-morals-i-broke-off-my-engagement-after-my-fiance-cheated-on-me-do-i-have-to-return-the-ring-41237935.html

Question: I broke off my engagement a few months ago when I discovered my partner of six years had cheated on me. He gave me a ring that cost approximately €10,000 and now he’s demanding I give it back to him.

He took out a loan to pay for the ring so part of me feels that I should give it back. But the other part of me feels like I’m justified in keeping it.

My dad paid a deposit for our wedding venue, which we’re struggling to get returned. Plus, I paid for most of the furnishings and decor in the home that we shared together.

My family says I should consider the ring a small compensation for what I’ve been through, but my ex is now threatening legal action.

What should I do?

Answer: Trying to rebuild your life after a break-up is hard, but trying to rebuild your life after an engagement break-up is even harder. You’re probably craving some privacy right now, but instead, you have to deal with vendors, guests and the ignominy of a very public break-up.

From your letter, I understand you have two questions. Firstly, you want to know what your rights are from a legal perspective and, secondly, you want to know what you should do from an ethical perspective.

For legal advice, I shared your dilemma with Lisa Mc Kenna, Principal Solicitor at Mc Kenna & Co Solicitors.

She says the money spent on a ring cannot be recovered by the person who gifted it unless a loan agreement was drawn up by the giftor and the giftee specifically for its purchase.

“If the loan taken out is in the name of the giftor only, then the loan belongs to him and the giftee has no legal obligation to pay the loan or return the ring that he gave her,” she says.

till, while you’re under no legal obligation to return the ring, we ought to remember that legal and ethical standards are not the same thing.

Common etiquette is often a good guide to ethical behaviour, but in this case, there are no hard-and-fast rules.

Celina Murphy, Editor of online wedding magazine One Fab Day, agrees there’s no definitive answer. “You’re really making up your own rules,” she says.

“In terms of her dad’s investment in the wedding venue deposit, it would be fair to ask her ex to contribute 50pc towards any money that can’t be recouped, as a wedding is a celebration with two people at the centre of it and it follows that the couple should share the expense equally, regardless of whether the wedding is going ahead or not.”

The engagement ring is a trickier matter to decide upon, she says. “On one hand, it was a gift, and, by definition, gifts are given absolutely, with no expectation that they’ll be returned. On the other hand, the ring was a symbol of a marriage that now won’t be going ahead, so the meaning behind it has shifted.”

I also shared your dilemma with Cork-based psychotherapist Tom Evans, who runs Selfcare online counselling. He says he’s hearing your “level-headedness and correct decision-making” in terms of ending the relationship. On that basis, he thinks you should trust your gut here too and “listen to both opposing parts of yourself”.

You’re still grieving the end of your relationship, he points out, and “anger is part and parcel of most grief journeys”.

“There’s a possibility the remaining hurt and consequent anger lies beneath the decision not to return the ring — that it may be an act of passive aggression,” he says.

“I’d suggest taking time to process the remaining hurt and maybe booking a few therapy sessions to help with that. Then she will arrive at a clearer place in mind and body.”

At the same time, he understands why you might consider the ring a form of “compensation”. “It’s utterly reasonable to conclude that she is simply ‘balancing the books’ as they dissolve the relationship and cover all of the costs incurred,” he says.

It’s also worth considering the emotional toll of keeping the ring, says Celina.

“Arguing over the ring will only cause more hurt and make it harder for her to move on, so I’d be inclined to give it back, but only after other financial issues (the venue deposit, the ownership of the home furnishings she paid for) are ironed out.”

I would be of the same mind, but for slightly different reasons. If you decide to keep the ring and trade it in for something else, you will be reminded of this period in your life almost every day for the foreseeable future.

Environmental cues have a huge impact on overall mindset, which is why we should surround ourselves only with objects that trigger happy memories and positive feelings.

Equally, I’d be wary of using the term ‘compensation’, which is synonymous with the word ‘victim’. You were a victim of cheating, yes, but you will recover and heal from this betrayal in time. And you’ll recover a lot faster if you can move beyond the victimhood mindset.

Stag attack on ESB worker will ‘forever haunt’ him as he settles case

No employee should be left alone especially when in very remote places, says worker

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/courts/high-court/stag-attack-on-esb-worker-will-forever-haunt-him-as-he-settles-case-1.4776425

A former ESB worker who was tossed into the air by a stag on a Tipperary mountain said the attack would forever haunt him.

In a statement after he settled his High Court action against the ESB on Friday, John Corcoran (63) said: “While I am so grateful to be alive and be here today the attack I endured that day will forever haunt me.

“Being left for dead in a bush for over an hour and a half having narrowly escaped death is not a risk in the workplace that should ever be allowed to happen. I truly hope lessons have been learned,” he added.

He said no employee “particularly in the already dangerous line of work of the ESB” should ever be left alone, especially when working so remotely.

Mr Corcoran said it was deeply regrettable that the case and the accident occurred and he claimed it could so easily have been prevented “with better support and working conditions from the ESB”.

Mr Corcoran’s case had been adjourned after he had to attend hospital when he had an asthma attack in the witness box this week.

Mr Justice Paul Coffey was, on Friday, told the case had been settled and another case brought by Mr Corcoran against the ESB in relation to alleged exposure to asbestos had also been settled.

The terms of the settlements are confidential.

John Corcoran was an engineering officer with the ESB and was on his way to check on a mast when the stag attacked him on a forestry path at Kilduff Mountain outside Templemore, Co Tipperary, six years ago.

Rutting season
The attack took place in September 2016 during what is traditionally rutting season.

Mr Corcoran, of Fawnlough, Nenagh, Co Tipperary, had sued ESB Networks Designated Activity Company with a registered address at Clanwilliam House, Clanwilliam Place, Dublin and the Electricity Supply Board with a registered address at East Wall, Dublin, over the stag attack on September 12th, 2016.

Mr Justice Paul Coffey was told that liability had been admitted in the case which was before the court for the assessment of damages only.

The court previously heard Mr Corcoran’s case includes a claim for a total of €420,000 in loss of earnings.

It was claimed that Mr Corcoran had been permitted to work alone in a mountain area during the deer mating season when it ought to reasonably have been known that it was dangerous and unsafe to do so.

It was further claimed there was a failure to have in place any warning device, panic alarm, man-down system or automatic distress message system for persons working alone in isolated areas.

In evidence, Mr Corcoran said it was a really lovely summer’s day when the attack happened.

“A herd of deer crossed the path in front of me. I said wouldn’t it be a lovely picture and then I got a sense of fear. The hairs on my neck were standing. I looked behind me and there was a stag 15 paces back from me,” he said.

He started to run but he said the stag hit him with force, his antlers creating eight puncture wounds on Mr Corcoran’s rucksack and wounding him in the shoulder.

“He propelled me through the air at speed over a bank and into the scrub. I lost my helmet and glasses,” he said.

The stag continued to attack with feet and antlers but Mr Corcoran said he had a rod and managed to hit the stag a few times in the nostrils, but it reared up on his hind legs and came crashing down on him.

Mr Corcoran said he lost consciousness for an estimated 10-12 minutes but later managed to reach his phone and summon help.

His solicitor, Seán Fitzgerald of HOMS Assist, after the announcement of the settlements said it was miraculous Mr Corcoran had survived the stag attack.

“We are only grateful that his case is one that highlights the role of care and responsibility that employers have for their employees. We are pleased that Mr Corcoran now has some closure and that he and his family have the financial support for the care he requires for his life-changing injuries,” he added.